Santa Toronja

"Santa;" Spanish for Saint. "Toronja;" Spanish for grapefruit. And of course, that Spanish for the tequila!

The name pretty much sums up this week's Greatest Drink. Oh, but a tasty one it is, too! Try this one out! You'll dig it!

The Recipe:

Into a large pint glass full of ice, add:

- a 4 count of silver tequila,

- a 2 count of St-Germain,

- a 4 count Grapefruit Juice, (Chris prefers the "Ruby Red!")

- a drop of Grenadine.

- Shake. Shake that thing like Charo's maracas!

- Strain over fresh ice,

- garnish with a fresh slice if lime and a maraschino cherry!

Chris's Notes: Recently, I began watching a new television show. It's called "Real and Chance: Legend Hunters," and stars these two brothers, a pair of South Central L.A. city slickers, all hip-hop and urban mod, going into deep wilderness to chase down creatures of mythical proportions. This particular entry in the Reality Show format plays heavily on the fish-out-of-water scenarios and more frequently than not has our two stars in the very middle of trucker-tanned rednecks and thick, inhospitable nature.

But it was while watching this show that I first saw the starting point of week's Greatest Drink. The stars, Real and Chance, (who also call themselves "Stallionaires," for some reason,) between actual "legend" encounters, often get a chance to "let down their hair," (sometimes literally as well as figuratively,) and will, more frequently than not, order a tequila and grapefruit juice.

"Oh, these boys got something right there!" I thought, and went straight out to buy some assorted grapefruit juices for further home research that week. It was the mix with the Ruby Red grapefruit juice that was most welcomed by my ever-discerning palate, so that is my first recommendation.

Still, there was something amiss. "What would Joe do?" I asked myself. And I knew instantly St-Germain was the ticket!

Thusly, I was very excited to see get to the Passage Lounge and run this by Joe!

Joe's Notes: As usual, Chris came bounding into the Passage Lounge, "Hey, Joe, you know what I have been drinking all week? Tequila and grapefruit juice!"

"You have been drinking all week?" I quipped.

Choosing to ignore my snippy remark he continued. "I think it is a great combo that we could really work with." Chris suggested that we add St-Germain. Not having the "Ruby Red" grapefruit juice at hand, I added a spot of grenadine for color and added sweetness. The result was more then worthy of an entry into TGDitWTW.

I don't use grapefruit juice in many cocktails. In fact, apart from the Seabreeze, the Pale Deacon and the Salty Dog, no others spring to mind.

It is not that I dislike grapefruit, it is just they do hold somewhat of an unpleasant childhood memory. The breakfast table, when I was a child in the U.K., was completely devoid of Count Chocula, Fruit Loops or any thing that a child may actually choose to eat. Oh no! We were given a halved grapefruit covered in sugar. The sugar made the bitter acid of the fruit barely palatable, the more sugar you added, the less of the grapefruit you could taste. So while the grapefruit acid ate away at your stomach lining, the sugar rotted your teeth, (think Austin Powers.) Looking back the toast was also a bit strange. Our mother only ever toasted the bread on one side. I had forgotten about this until I heard Sting's song "An Englishman in New York." In this song about Quentin Crisp he mentions this odd fact.

To accompany the half-toasted bread, we where given Marmite. Marmite is a thick black paste made from yeast extract.

If we chose to decline this breakfast we could always opt for my fathers choice: Porridge. Porridge is basically oatmeal but it is made so thick you could actually slice it like meatloaf. The thick splodge of porridge was then floated in cold milk and a dollop of strawberry jam was added.

I should probably leave all this behind me and give grapefruit another go. After all, I did very much enjoy this week's cocktail.

Although, I did read somewhere that grapefruit juice adversely interacts with some antipsychotic medications, (not that I have to worry about that just yet.)

Cheers,

Joe the Bartender

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This week's video: Hard Knock Life by Dr. Evil and Mini-Me.

Yeah, I know. Sorry.

The Pale Deacon

While searching for inspiration for this weeks greatest drink. I came across The Pale Deacon. When I am researching a drink for the blog I will experiment with five or six cocktails, sometimes tweaking them here or there while taking suggestions from the Greatest Drink expert Panel, (or whatever bar flies happen to be in on a Sunday night.) The Pale Deacon came out the winner this week by far. In fact, the Pale Deacon went down so well it produced both tears and group hugs from the panel of experts. I also saw some exchange of phone numbers and at least one episode of knee squeezing.

One question that came up was what does the name the Pale Deacon actually mean? Nobody including myself could come up with a reasonable answer. If anyone out there knows what it means please let us know by commenting on this blog.

The Recipe:

Into a cocktail shaker full of ice add

- a 4 count of Tanqueray Gin

- a 4 count of grapefruit juice

- a dash of simple syrup, (sugar,)

- 3 dashes of Angostura Bitters

- Shake religiously!

- salt to taste, (3 hearty shakes came out nice!)

Joe the Bartender's notes: Many, many years ago when I was just learning my trade in London, I worked at a well known "Gentleman's Club," (by this I mean a club for gentlemen; high backed leather chairs, brandy snifters and cigar and pipe smoking kind of club, and NOT the pole dancing, over-priced drink kind of gentleman's club).

This club was frequented by those who held the political and financial power in London. I remember a group of four ministers from the Church of England who frequented the club regularly.

This party consisted of three upper level ministers and one young deacon. It seemed to me that the three ministers where introducing their young colleague to the powers that be, (political and financial, that is, not heavenly, I think they already had that base covered.) Almost as if they where preparing this young man of the cloth for advancement within the Church of England. My conspiracy theory paranoia wonders if this young deacon is now wielding some authority among his flock from some upper level of the church, still controlled by the three original ministers.

Could this be a Pale Deacon?

Chris the Barfly's notes: As far as The Pale Deacon, the drink, is concerned, this cocktail seems to be on a completely different flavor palette from other drinks, perhaps it was the grapefruit juice as a core.

The heart of this drink is the grapefruit juice: so different, tart and bitter, Maybe that is why it stands out so from the typical bar fare. The combination of flavors; the grapefruit, the bitters, sugar, Tanqueray's and salt make this just a delicious drink, and nothing sweet or candy-like about it.

And apparently, good for you, too! Grapefruit juice is loaded with Vitamin C, and antioxidants, helps to lower cholesterol and to metabolize fat. In fact, grapefruit has been called one of the 'Seven Wonders of Barbados,' since its introduction there, shortly after being invented in the 1800's.

So, it was extremely fortuitous, (at least for continuity’s sake,) that we had guest research assistant, Michael B., our resident Barbadian, (and frequent "Greatest Drink" taste tester,) on hand for this evening’s consideration. Michael commented immediately of how the flavor reminded him of home, with the saltiness and the tang of the juice. He took it a step further and suggested that this cocktail accompany kettle-cooked salt & vinegar-flavored potato chips.

This is an unusual drink, but one that I wouldn't hesitate to order again, no matter what flavor chips were served.